A €10 million ($13.2 million) all-composite fuselage and door research project funded by the European Union's Fifth Framework programme has failed to achieve all its goals due to fibre-placement process difficulties, according to participant Eurocopter.
The Full Barrel Composite (Fubacomp) fuselage project is aimed at reducing airframe mass through the maximum possible use of composite materials.
Although the composite door is ready and has undergone non-destructive testing, the fuselage is yet to be finished. The all-composite fuselage required a special collapsible mandrel for the automatic fibre placement process, using fibre tape that is pre-impregnated with resin.
Tooling and technical issues surrounding the collapsible mandrel led to the project missing its completion date, but work is still being planned by the project's participants.
"The door is to be delivered [for testing] in the middle of this year. It has to have instrumentation attached for strain gauges. We still have to solve many problems including [composite structures] inspection and repair," says Wolfgang Buchs, project manager with Eurocopter's aircraft components division.
As well as instrumentation, the door has to be ground in several areas to attach metal brackets. Such components have to be added after the curing process because they would be affected by the heat.
Originally the project was to end on 28 February, but the European Commission and industry may extend the deadline by a year.
ROB COPPINGER/LONDON
Source: Flight International
